I agree it's bloody stupid. It's basically a rule so that football league clubs can train players from their area, and if a Premier League club sees fit they can poach them for any sort of price! This only benefits the Premier League clubs. What good is extra funding for football league clubs if the players are just going to get sold on on the cheap?

It has also been reported that some owners of Premier League clubs want to end relegation. This is clearly aimed at protecting their investment. I would hope that UEFA could ban English clubs from their competitions if this ever happened.

I don't particularly like the system but perhaps it would've been better if something like Italy's co-ownership rules were bought into place instead? This may well see the end of some academies, especially at League 2 clubs. Why bother producing any talent if anyone half decent is going to get poached for a pittance before they're old enough to make the first team? There's no sense in spending money to run an academy, might as well just pick up some of the vast numbers of 18-19 year olds that inevitably get released from big clubs because they've never had a chance?

It has also been reported that some owners of Premier League clubs want to end relegation. This is clearly aimed at protecting their investment. I would hope that UEFA could ban English clubs from their competitions if this ever happened.

 

I don't think this is true at all. I am sure the idea of turning the Premier League in to a franchise similar to how the Superbowl works will have been mooted, but there is no evidence whatsoever about these plans. I think it was planned to announce it to the media, just so that everyone knows that the idea is there. And it's worked because it would be a ridiculous idea.

Another chapter in that much loved comedy, The Life Of Mario Balotelli :lol:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/oc...-fire-fireworks

What a dickhead.

Man City unbelievable today. 1-6 what a scoreline. Silva'a pass for the last goal was sublime.

 

The turning point was obviously the sending off, but so many of Man Utd's players went missing today. I said it earlier but Young is so so so overrated. If you mar him out of them game he is useless. Liverpool did it last week, and Man City did it this week.

yep unbelievable!! 5 points diff at the top, Fergie needs to change things asap

yep unbelievable!! 5 points diff at the top, Fergie needs to change things asap

 

Don't think he can. Man Utd's central midfield is beyond awful. Even with 11 men Fletcher and Anderson completely lost the midfield battle.

Posted this as my Facebook status:

 

As a neutral I'm not sure what's more entertaining, a game that finishes 6-1 or seeing how United fans react on Facebook :')

 

Ridiculous game, well done to City. Assuming they still have some kind of self-destructive tendency (they are City after all, aren't they?) my prediction of Chelsea sneaking through as dark horses could well come true, they'll go 2nd if they beat QPR.

The sending off was clearly the turning point but it was the right decision so Utd have no cause for complaint.

I feel sick.

I feel pretty good. A fine 3-1 victory and all the 8-2 taunts from my Unitedfan friends will likely come to an end.

 

With that said, the thought of City winning the league thoroughly disgusts me.

I think it's safe to say that if Chelsea come back from this, they can rightly call themselves contenders. Can they do it?

Man City will walk the league now. It's a long way to go, and unless they implode ala Arsenal I can't see them getting beat by too many teams. The derby defeat will be soul destorying to Man Utd, People can try and put on a brave face, but it's really going to effect their mentality. They were second best for the whole game save their early start. The strikers couldn't get in to the game and neither could the midfield. Evra is complete gash, he's completely lost it. The central midfield is where Man Utd really have a problem as it offers no protection to the centre backs. They've been poor for their last 3 games now against Norwich, Liverpool and Man City. The only positive for Man Utd I can see is they've got a game on Tuesday against Aldershot to get the defeat out of their system.

Tottenham Hotspurs 4-1 Manchester United 1995/96 (won the league)

Southampton 6-3 Manchester United 1996/97 (won the league)

Newcastle United 5-0 Manchester United 1996/97 (won the league)

Chelsea 5-0 Manchester United 1999/00 (won the league)

Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool 2008/09 (won the league)

 

This make me feel a bit better. That said, completley agree with basically everything Rooney said. The most sickening thing to take is that it was completley deserved.

^Lol you wouldn't have won the league in 08/09 if it wasn't for that little Italian tho ha!

 

It would be very hard to take any positive out of this as a Man Utd fan. A 6-1 defeat is awful by any margin, but against your biggest rival? Soul destroying. I don't know what Fergie can do to pick his team up now. I think this has sent a lot of Man Utd fans and football pundits back in to reality though after claiming this Man Utd side to be as good as the treble winning team.

I was gutted I wasn't watching it, instead I was at the dullest most lifeless stadium I've ever been to, The Emirates.

 

The thing is, it had kind of been coming. Man Utd have conceded more shots on goal than any other team in the league, they've been very open at the back all season and they were due conceding at least 3 or 4, but against Man City at home? LOL! There are reasons for having such a high amount of shots though, they've played Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal already and they're all going to have more shots than the likes of Wolves, Blackburn and QPR who they've not played yet, and De Gea is supposedly weak with shots from distance, so ever since Dzeko 'proved' that theory correct in the Community Shield his goal has been peppered with shots far more than if it were van der Sar still in goal.

I was gutted I wasn't watching it, instead I was at the dullest most lifeless stadium I've ever been to, The Emirates.

 

The thing is, it had kind of been coming. Man Utd have conceded more shots on goal than any other team in the league, they've been very open at the back all season and they were due conceding at least 3 or 4, but against Man City at home? LOL! There are reasons for having such a high amount of shots though, they've played Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal already and they're all going to have more shots than the likes of Wolves, Blackburn and QPR who they've not played yet, and De Gea is supposedly weak with shots from distance, so ever since Dzeko 'proved' that theory correct in the Community Shield his goal has been peppered with shots far more than if it were van der Sar still in goal.

 

Yeah the warning signs have been there for a while. They've been quite lucky in the Champions League aswell. They've got big game players like Rooney, Giggs, Nani and Hernandez though who can step it up when it's needed. Gets them out of trouble quite a lot. I don't even think de Gea has been that bad. He's made mistakes, but he gets offered no protection from the midfield. And I don't even think Fergie knows what his best central defensive partnership is yet. I just find them incredibly one dimensional at the moment, and they seriously have such an awful midfield. Full-back is a bit of a problematic area at the moment. I'm not sure why Evra's self-destructed. It might be because Young offers no protection to him, but the amount of times Richards/Balotteli/Silva/Milner made use of the right hand side of the pitch yesterday must surely be worrying!

Sven has been sacked as manager of Leicester. Anyone surprised?